Knuckles Duwili Eli through Walpolamulla – The Most Wanted trip of the year

How can I start? As you may aware Sri Pada and Knuckles are my favourite places on earth. I used to visit them at least 2-3 times per year. If I talk about knuckles it’s a vast area covering more than 30 mountains, more than 20 isolated villages, so many waterfalls and caves large variety of flora& fauna etc. Importantly in this range you can find waterfalls cascading over caves. One example is Sera Ella in Puwakpitiya area. But out of that type The Most Beautiful, Most isolated, Most difficult to Access and undoubtedly queen of all waterfalls in knuckles area is The Duwili Ella in Kalupahana. It’s situated almost middle of knuckles range and to reach it by using any path you have to walk in the thick jungle for at least 15 kms or more. Some of the accessible routes to this hidden beauty are via Bambarella (via Enasal Wadi), Ranamure, Meemure, Rambukoluwa, Walpolamulla etc. After seeing many reports, discussions and videos about this gorgeous waterfall I was dreaming to visit it and spend a night in the cave. Although the path through Walpolamulla was said to be harder than other routes I was willing to choose that path as I desperately wanted to visit that isolated village Walpolamulla and to spend a night there too .The name itself gave me a strange feeling

Our Target..Our dream..Our Mission Queen of Knuckles waterfalls. Famous Duwili Ella . Cave is in the middle part.

I was dreaming for this more than a year or so. Finally dream came true on 24/04/2014

Beautiful Walpolamulla . This was in my dreams too. Achieved it 23/04/2014

But I had heard, read and understood that the successive rate of reaching Duwili Ella ( Caved one ) by using Atanwala-walpolamulla road is very low due to the distance you have to walk is too long and you have to pass many water streams . But I was not in a mode to give up. From Last year I had been planning to do this but abounded due to bad weather, less no of persons, lack of time etc etc. But in the meantime I read all the reports about this journey at least 10 times each in order to draft a master plan. Most of all Malaka’s Map was the recourse article I referred most.

Malaka333 s Magical map was very important for Me ( Taken from Malaka’s Report )

Therefore I could understand the challenges, risks and mistakes of a hiker who use this route. This is what I understood about Attanwala-Walpolamulla Route

1. Since the distance from Pitawala ( last place you could go with any transport mode ) to Duwili falls is 16-17kms you should start at least from Walpolamulla(4 km from Attanwala)
2. Even from walpolamulla you should leave before 6.00 a.m.( before the first rays of sun reach earth )
3. You shouldn’t waste time on searching for lower falls ( You can search them in the return journey )
4. Not necessary to take the tent as the shelter in walpolamulla and the cave is so far good
5. Shouldn’t waste time on cooking or bathing
6. Team shouldn’t be large (my opinion – 5 is ideal) and they must be strong enough to take any challenge. Previous hiking experience is a MUST
7. Backpacks shouldn’t be too heavy (you should bring less cloths, light dry food, no tent etc.)
8. And Most of all you need a bit of luck. So doing rituals (according to your belief) will be a great relief to your mind. As you tend to think there’s someone always protect you in this dangerous terrain.

After waiting for years I decided last that “I am going to do this”. According to a Sri’s comment on a report of me it was my “Most wanted journey this year “.So I called Wasantha and arranged a guide and accommodation .Then came the difficult part .Finding hiking partners. All the lakdasun members whom I had traveled with were busy as those were week days. I didn’t pick my work mates too as I hadn’t traveled with them often although they were free. Then I remembered my loyal heroes whom I knew them for more than 20 years or so. And they have done tough hikes with me including knuckles ( Prince – Meemure & Chiran – Riverston, Manigala). Since they happily agreed to join me I drafted my plan after taking the above facts to mind and executed smoothly.

23rd April ( Initiation of the process with the tight schedule )

Our objective was to reach Walpolamulla before 6.00 p.m. and stay the night there. As we knew with the public transport it was difficult to achieve target, we chose bikes. Bike plus Hike made us interesting. So We left our homes around 5.30 a.m. pumped petrol full tank and checked air from Koswatta . Me and Chiran were traveling in my Bike and Prince in his own. The challenge we faced was due to an engine repair in prince’s bike he couldn’t exceed the speed limit of 45km/h and he had to stop for 10-15 minutes in every 40 kms. With this moderate speed we reached Kandy around 10.00 a.m.( We stopped for breakfast at Pilimathalawa ).Then we visited Tooth relic to get the blessings for our risky journey and started going towards Mathale at 11.00 a.m..Since the road constructions were going on it was a slow ride. We purchased many items from food city at Mathale and re- started our journey around 1.00p.m.( we had to stop for some while due to heavy rain ). On the way to Pitawala we came across so many attractions such as Bambarakiri ella, Riverston Peaks,Pitawla Pathana but skipped those lovely places because we wanted our main target to be achieved i.e. WALPOLAMULLA. We were able to reach Pitawala around 2.45 p.m.

My Two Heroes of the journey Prince-front ,Chiran – Back (Taken at Nittambuwa )

Sacred Temple of Tooth

When We Go to Peak Wilderness – We Get the blessing of Holly Foot Print When we go to Knuckles- We get the blessing of Holly Tooth Relic ( Dalada Samidu Pihitai !)

On the way to riverston

We had to Check for our slow and steady Rider – Prince

Manigala Seen to Pitawala Pathana

Attanwala Paddy fields

Shop at Pitawala where we had light lunch and did the final part of shopping(Rice, Eggs, some biscuits )

We went to Wasantha’s Place and parked our bikes in his garden. Although he wasn’t there he had given instructions his wife and our guide ( Ekanayaka Mama ) of our arrival. Ekanayaka mama also came to visit us from Attanwala as we were late. So after re arranging our stuff we left wasantha’s place at 3.30 p.m. and started walking towards Ekanayaka Mama’s home at Attanwala.

Beautiful Attanwala

Ancient warriors were in sleepy mode as giant mountains

Thelgamu oya

Attanwala temple close to Mama’s House

After walking nearly 1.5 kms from Pitawala, we reached Ekanayaka Mama’s home around 4.15 p.m. Mama went inside to prepare his bag and other stuff. I was in a hurry as I didn’t have clear idea of the path to walpolamulla but mama was not. He told us to rest a bit and ordered his daughter in law to make tea for us. So we did our final repacking of the day and most importantly applying Alum. From the very beginning I knew “The leach factor” would really affect Prince. In any other day I would have laughed at prince’s Leach Phobia but this time was not. I took it very seriously and previous day I had bought some fresh Alum from Pettah which consumed me nearly 2 hrs. But it was worth wasting time because we saved lots of time due to that. For my surprise in this kingdom of leaches , Prince never complained a single word about leaches and concentrated purely on the hike. That was another Key factor of our success. Finally we left Ekanayaka Mama’s Place at 4.45 p.m. and walked towards Walpolamulla

Ekanayaka Mama’s Home.. Getting ready for the “Mission Impossible”

First Hurdle….. We successfully crossed many hurdles in our journey

Road signs ( They were there till the Duwili falls )

Manigala

Perfect guiding. After this you have to turn right to get in to Walpolamulla

Place where we did rituals and rested for a while…Why not have some fun too

Other side of Manigala. After some while we began to descend

Oh God …This is heaven ( Our Second favourite place on the trip)

See their joy. This was early a tank Made by Yakka Gothra

Finally a Group photo PHOTO : CHIRAN

Our destination on Day one. We Came Sharp at 6.00 p.m. PHOTO : CHIRAN

Let Me explain about this place and how we execute our rest of the plan.

This is the only house in the village. There used to be six seven families in the village but now reduced to one old person. He had also gone to one of his sons home at Mathale. This house contains two small rooms , kitchen and a tiny passage as a store room. First thing we did was collecting some fire wood. While Me and prince were doing that Mama and Chiran went to nearby stream ( 200 m away from house ) to take some water for cooking and drinking purpose. We had to hurry up as it started raining .We had planned Rice and curries for 23rd night, 24th Breakfast and lunch as we could prepare those from this house without much difficulty.(If we prepared them in the middle of the jungle much time would have spent and things to carry would have been so heavy.)In other words in this Whole journey we did all the cooking being in a resting place. i.e. House or cave

We lighted some candles and switched on our torches ( We carried 4 including two head torches ) and prepared tea(nest cafe ) then prepared our dinner. One advantage was there were some pots, pans in the kitchen also a well made Hearth (LIPA) . Adding to that we had the portable gas cooker of Prasanna .So why not have the benefit of it. We made rice and 3 curries and a boiled egg for Prince. After cooking we wanted to have some wash but it was around 7.30 and didn’t want to take a risk by going to the stream as it was fully dark. Adding to that it was thundering and raining. So we used the conditions and bathe under the rain like small children which was barely enough to wash away our tiredness. Sometimes we used the water came out from the roof as a Peella. However Prince(local sudda ) and Mama did not join our rain dance . We used rain water for washing pans, Spoons too. After putting new cloths we had our dinner and had a chat for a while. We put some fire wood to the hearth as it was difficult to put a campfire outside due to rain .Mama was singing Kawi not about knuckles but about his lovely wife who had passed away two years ago. He had beautiful memories about their young age and her demise seemed to have affected him a lot. Around 10.00 p.m. we went to sleep memorizing our beautiful journey of the day and entering the next day plan to our inner minds.

Happy cooking

Rice, Dhal Curry, Fried Salmon , Soya Meat and Boiled egg ,Yummmm. What else you need

24th April (Propagation with extreme alert to reach Target)

We Woke up around 4.30 a.m. Our target was to leave Walpolamulla before 6.00 a.m. and to reach Duwili Eli Cave before 4.00 p.m. As I told you earlier we tried our best to save time. So we didn’t want to waste time on cooking in the middle of the jungle. We prepared tea and went to the stream to collect water and prepared rice, Fried Dry fish, Dhal curry, Soya meat and Boiled eggs. Then we cleaned the place and re packed our bags. Then we had our breakfast around 6.30 and packed our lunch too. By 7.00 a.m. We said good bye to Walpolamulla.I would say we were about half an hour late but should give an excuse as we had breakfast there and much time and day light wanted to clean the place.

By 7.00 a.m. Said Good bye to Walpolamulla

Steam from where we took water for basic needs PHOTO : CHIRAN

Obstacles were sometimes enjoying

Thunhisgala seen Far away PHOTO : CHIRAN

Endless mountains

After that we encountered a steep descend till we reached the next water stream

Nice place

Nature at its best PHOTO : CHIRAN

This is descending……….Be careful

First water stream

Rocks were slippery due to yesterday’s rain and I slipped when crossing a large rock and twisted my right ankle. I lied down as I couldn’t go any further. Cried with pain but didn’t want to give up. Waited for five minutes after spraying Chiran’s Magic spray then continued with limping feet. Mama Cut down a branch of a tree and made me a wooden hiking stick. We again came to somewhat flat terrain and reached Nugathalawa around 8.30 p.m.

Now came to a flat terrain Photo : Chiran

Nugathalawa………We came here around 8.30 a.m. continuation of the path is to left side

Studying the map. This time I was guiding the guide about waterfalls in this area. Photo : Chiran

After Nugathalawa we again found a steep descend. It was slippery as the soil was like spongy due to rain. Then we came again somewhat flat terrain. One thing I should mention is road was well marked using various methods. Additions to red marks on trees and stones, in grassy lands we saw grass cuts and arrows marked using Mamoty(udella ) . By around 9.45 we reached the Weddahena Stream. Just before that we saw the intersection of Rambukoluwa and Walpolamulla paths. Weddahena stream was a nice place to have a bath. But as I mentioned earlier we didn’t want to waste time there. Had a small break with some biscuits and crossed the stream and proceeded.

Grassy area close to Weddahena

Arrow/Prince shows the continuation of Duwili eli Path. Left one ( Chiran ) shows the path to Rambukoluwa.

Weddahena Stream. Nice place to have a bath

Path was flat for few km Photo : Chiran

Giant tree. According to the guide this is the largest tree in this area

Measuring the size Photo : Chiran

Then We came to another small stream

Small waterfall few meters away from the stream Photo : Chiran

Then we came to an interesting land mark. Split of trail with red arrow marking. No sooner I saw it I realized, the left path is the path to reach Hidden DUMBARA ELLA . If you see the Malaka’s Map it’s the fall marked as no 10. I told the guide about this trail and showed a picture of Dumbara falls. He confirmed my assumption is correct and surprisingly he had been there to dry enasal long time ago. But we didn’t want to reach it at that moment as we had our target in mind and requested guide to take us there next day. He happily agreed. After that land mark we faced a steep ascend. Not surprisingly we were going up parallel to stream. Mama told us that we have to pass two steep sections. First one initially and the next after another stream. Last one was mentioned to be very steep. According to his vocabulary it’s BITHTHIYA ( Wall ). He said “puthala umbala methuwak apu gamanath hari ithuru tikath hari. Umbalata me gamana aye jeewitheta amathaka wenne naa ong.”

It was not only steep but also we had to go through a dangerous edge. Adding to that it was slippery. That’s why I mentioned it’s impossible to pass this section in rain. Adding to that there were poisonous plants like Niyagala, kahambiliya, Maussa which can make you itching and some caterpillars were joining the party. According to our guide there were moderate venomous snakes like Green Pit vipers ( Pala Polanga ) and Humped nosed viper ( Kunakatua ). I just remembered the poem in Dilhan’s Report “KALUPAHANE NOWEDA WISA DUWILI ELLA”. That means Duwili ella is Situated in Poisonous/venomous Kalupahana Area. However we came across a Kuankatuwa only.

After a difficult ascend we came to a flat area then a sharp descend to next stream crossing.” Naran Attha Oya “

Split of the trail. Left Dumbara Ella. Right Duwili Ella. We were stick to our main target

Beginning to ascend Photo : Chiran

Resting place or meditating place?

After climbing a BITHTHIYA

Here is the fellow.(Kunakatuwa) He was in the middle of a rock that we had to cross. Since he didn’t give us way I had to move him to a side using my hiking stick.

Beautiful flat section. Road signs are still there ( See the red marks )

Naranathta oya Photo : Chiran

Crystal clear water arrow marks are on the top of the rock

We reached here around 12.40 p.m. We were dead tired at this moment. We rested a bit and had our packed lunch. I remembered a phrase in the great novel Oliver Twist “bowls were never needed to wash”. Like that we ate all in our lunch pack except the lunch sheet. After lunch we had a short nap for about 15minutes on a rocky slab and re-started our journey around d 1.15 p.m. There were some dark clouds gathering too. I prayed god not to get caught in rain till we reach the cave. We crossed the stream to reach the other bank. Here onwards was the hardest part of all. The Name Biththiya really suited it. For the first time in my life I was screaming in a hike. Steepness, Slippery dangerous edges, Heavy back pack, most of all my aching ankle made me to scream as Ammo!…..for several times…. “Oh Kalupahana You gave me a hard time”. Slowly but steadily we reached the last stream (near Ranamure track )

Last stream ( near Ranamure track )…………………..Beautiful Photo : Chiran

No comments ….You should see it

A small cascade

From here we didn’t cross the stream. We went besides the stream. We were able to have a glance at Small waterfall like a staircase. But didn’t spend much on it as our target was very close. After little while we were traveling far away from the stream. After somewhat easy ascend we felt that we were again getting closer to the stream. Around 3.20 p.m. we saw the first glimpse of our target/ Dream “Duwili Ella “.Finally We reached the there around 3.30 p.m.

Glimpse of Duwili Ella .Can you see another fall far away Photo : Chiran

Bottom part of the fall. Photo : Chiran

Our destination . I still remembered Mama’s Words which made me more courageous. “ Umbe Hita hayyai Putha…. Mama hituwe na Kakule amaruwath ekka umba meka Korai kiyala. Umbata waradinne naa Putha “

Chiran’s Broken Shoes were tied with liaise. This indicate two things 1. How hard the trail is 2. How tough the hiker is to face any challenge and adapt to any condition

Team work Photo : Chiran

Let Me explain about our dreamy place. It’s a large wide tall rock. There is a natural cave and we could observe the remains of manmade walls in it. Can accommodate 10 or more easily. After passing the cave for about 15m you can see the Gorgeous Duwili fall. There is another cave type formation behind the fall where you can observe the fall cascading in front of you. But it’s difficult to stay there for a long period due to water drizzles.

After keeping our baggage at the cave we reached our dream. She was beautiful .I couldn’t take my eye away from her. Surrounding mountains gave a value addition to her beauty. After a long photo session we three decided to have a bath in this. But would mention we did this very carefully and if you are not confident better not attempting it. If you miss one step you’ll be given a free ticket to bottom which Is nearly 60m down. You can get hold of the creepers if you are not sure of your position. Our guide took the difficult but safe way to bathe by walking down to the bottom of the fall( Which will take 5-10 minutes ).

Kept our bags Photo : Chiran

Our Dream

Duwili……….Duwili……..with surrounding mountains

Stunned by the beauty

Side view . One should walk along the edge or get down from behind to have a bath. I was not sure about the fist method so I picked the method two as always wanted something to hold.

It’s not raining ……its’ Water dust ( Dooooooooooooowili )

Always tried to hold on these.

After an awesome bath we came to the cave and cooked noodles using the remaining daylight. Around 5.30 p.m. it was thundering and raining heavily .but we were very safe in the cave. We lit the camp fire outside the covered area and settled in. we were observing the nature. We had dinner around 7.30 p.m. Then we put covers on the floor and wore / covered ourselves with warm cloths / bed sheets to face the cold in the night. Temperature was bearable due to the fall of rain I guess. After a nice chat we went to sleep filled with happiness. Time to time we were awaken by the cold weather and we made sure to campfire lit over the night.

25Th April ( Termination with a waterfall festival )

We woke up around 5.30 a.m. and prepared tea. Then prepared noodles and got ready for the return journey. We cleaned the place and had a look at the gorgeous beauty for the last time in the trip. Then we had our breakfast and said good bye to the cave around 7.00 a.m. our target was to cover many waterfalls in this stream including the bottom most DUMBARA Ella.

Gini thapima ( Prince was the person who was most affected by cold weather Photo : Chiran

Colour change in the rock after exposing to morning rays Photo : Chiran

Cleaning the place

Final look at the beauty Photo : Chiran

Said good bye

They were saying Good luck

We reached the base of the Duwili Eli falls and spent some time there. Then we were thinking going down stream to explore the rest. But our guide said it’s rather difficult and risky to travel like that as there were dangerous drops. We too understood it’s true. So I suggested mama that we should walk through the forest (in between the stream and the path) to find a way to reach falls. We searched for sometime but all came end with inaccessible edges. We could only see a glimpse of the 3rd waterfall in the map.

Guide seemed to have little annoyed and told that we should go back to path. We obeyed the same. But I did not give up searching for others. Whenever I saw a something looked like a foot path I requested him to have go at it .From here onward small arguments and aggression began with our guide and me as he highly believed there were no waterfalls till we reach the Staircase fall ( Fall no 05) . But I tried to convince him there is another one. In fact a very beautiful one. He was arguing that he had come here several time but not even heard about a fall like that. Finally I said him loudly “Mama mama kiyana de ahala enda. Aniwaryen mama Diyaellak pennanawa”. Then I took a branched path and after nearly 300m difficult descend we reached a gorgeous fall( 4th one in the map). Mama also surprised as he had seen this for the first time His Life. “Maye Appa… putha meeta kalin mehev ekak Dekala na nowa. Atthatama hari lassanai. All the disappointments and aggression between us seemed to have ended and I laughingly told him now he should pay me for showing this waterfall.

Path to the base of the fall

Duwili Ella from its base Photo : Chiran

Side view

Flowing down

3rd fall in the map

4th fall in the map

Maye Appa Putha mama mehev ellak meeta kalin dekala naa nowa Photo : Chiran

We walked along the stream to reach staircase fall

Fall no 05 Staircase fall Photo : Chiran

Came here again (Close to Ranamure track )

Is this Fall no 06 ??????. Not sure bottom was inaccessible Photo : Chiran

Enasal Gedi ?????? couldn’t ask from mama Photo : Chiran

Then we came to the forest path. After some descending I sensed like another fall. We search it by getting down to the stream. However we couldn’t find the waterfall no 8 or series of waterfalls mentioned as 7. But we were lucky to witness the waterfall no 09. Then we came back to the path again.

Going down stream

Top of Waterfall no 09

Somebody help……………………………….

Surprise……………He was in the same place .this time we could avoid him and travel

Descending also was too risky

After some time we took the by route to Dumbara Ella Which was another beauty in this range. Mama confirmed that although he didn’t know by this name he had spent few days here in a cave nearby to dry Enasal. We spent nearly half an hour and had biscuits with cheese and proceeded.

Dumbara ella ( Base pool seemed really deep)

Couldn’t take their eyes out

Enjoying nature + Photo shooting + answering phone while keeping the balance… All-rounder

By 1.40 p.m. we came to the Wedda hena Stream. We had our lunch with bread, onion Sambal(Seeni Sambal) and butter. Then Chiran and myself had a nice bath in the stream. We left the place around 2.30 and came to the Rambukoluwa track. Our guide suggested whether we could go in the same path ( Walpolamulla ) as he hadn’t used this path before. But we didn’t want any more steep ascends. I had already contacted Anupama and had some idea about the path. Surprisingly Rambukoluwa track was also marked using red colour marks but not as prominent as Wlapolamulla track. As I guess Rambukoluwa path is somewhat closer to 8km and it is a slight descend (almost flat one) with occasional ascends and descends. We reached the Rambukoluwa village around 5.10.

When are you coming from Duwili eli You have to turn right to reach Rambukoluwa track

Path

Most of the time we were walking parallel to the river

Stream crossing (after 2-3kms )

Land mark

Then we came to a grassy land ( it’s an abounded Paddy field)

They were looking at us from behind

colourful

Most of the time path was flat

An important land mark .Large rock bed. There is another 2-3 kms to the villege

Asweddauma Paddy fields…………. now village is very close

Last stream we crossed. There were few paths. Chose the wide and clear path after crossing the steam

Had never seen before

Another land mark ( Water tank )

Signs of civilization

If you are fond with Manigala this is the path which connect Attanwala through Manigala ( nearly10km)

No sooner we reached the village we saw a house with a three wheeler parked in the garden. We just inquire them whether we can hire it to Pitawala. Surprisingly owners of the house knew mama well and they greeted us well and offered us tea with biscuits .after a little rest and a chitchat we said good bye to them and got in to tri wheeler. We three were in the back seat while mama sat next to the driving seat. After a difficult three wheel journey we reached the Wasantha’s Place around 7.15 p.m. Although we had met only once before Wasantha could recognize me and chiran well. The first question he asked from me with a smile (After having a look at my giant body) “KOHOMADA NAGGE”. We settled the three wheel fee and thanked him taking us for about 15kms from Rambukoluwa. Most of the drivers don’t come in that time as there is another 1.5 hr journey to Rambukoluwa where they have to travel alone. Adding to that the road is fully dark and risk of elephant is also there.

Then We Thanked Mama, Settle his fee and drop him to the last mortable place close to Attawala from my bike.

Wasantha had arranged us a cottage belongs to one of his friends which was 5 minute walk from his home. After 3days we had our original washing and cleaning .( We didn’t use soap inside forest ) . I still remember Prince was asking me in our return journey from Duwili Ella “ Harinda ,What’s the perfume you’re’ Using. I replied it’s Knuckles perfume. As my hiking cloths were blended with extract of tree leaves, Mud, sweat etc it gave a different smell.. So every one of us had perfect bath and washed our cloths and settled in. Wasntha brought us Rice and curry for dinner. We had a long chat with wasntha about our upcoming adventures . He said good bye to us around 9.00 p.m

Primary school at Rambukoluwa

Simple village life

A place where Water stream flows over the road and they were telling “Well Done”

Important junction Yellow – Rambukoluwa ( 5 km ) …..Red- Pallegama……… Blue- Pitawala junction

26th April (Back to Usual Hike + Bike)

We got up around 5.30 and repacked our bags and went to Wasantha’s Home. We had tea there settled wasantha’s dues and left the lovely village around 6.30 a.m. while coming through Pitawala Pathana and Riverston we were able to capture some magnificent views of the Knuckles Mountains. By 2.00 p.m. We were at our homes.

So this was the story of our memorable hike. Despite of a mild injury all the other things went right. I can say thousand of things about my hike. But if I summarized the success behind our journey, We targeted our main Destiny (Duwili Ella with cave ) keeping other targets postponed. But finally we could achieve most of them although we didn’t cover all. Although I am not a philosopher because of our great experience I can give you an advice not only for hiking but also for day today life.

AIM AT MAIN ……REST WILL FOLLOW YOU “

Beautiful Manigala And other mountains

Lovely

Good Bye My lovely Misty mountains .I’ll come back

Knuckles Taught me a good lesson “AIM AT MAIN REST WILL FOLLOW YOU”

THANKS FOR READING